Who shoots copper solids?

[tobnpr]

Borescoped a .300 WSM barrel after something like 15 rounds of copper solids for load development.
Yowza...crazy copper fouling unlike I've ever seen.

Got to thinking about it, sure seems that solids will not deform/engrave into the rifling nearly as easily as jacketed lead.
Is it normal to see these "excessive" levels of copper fouling? Didn't see any pressure signs on the primers- but I expect that pressure profile is different with these as well.

 

[Artisan]

Who was the manufacturer? Any grooves or banding on the bullets? Were the bullets smooth-sided?

 

[BondJamesBond]

I was shooting a lot of Barnes solids in 6.8 spc, an AR round... the common thought over on the 6.8 forum is once you start shooting the solids...keep shooting them and the fouling will decrease, don't mix lead strings in with the solid strings. It was a common topic of conversation.

 

[Artisan]

Don't mix lead strings in??? You mean solid lead, not even a copper jacket?

 

[BondJamesBond]

A lot of guys on that forum liked to use the solid Barnes and cavity backs for deer or hogs, but didn't want to stop shooting jacketed bullets, my understanding was poor grouping and/or heavy copper fouling would or could happen and a thorough cleaning in between shooting the solids and jacketed bullets would help.
I never proved this to be right or wrong and i don't think the cause was ever explained, I looked at it as a possibility and YMMV.

 

[spitfire_er]

I've shot the Barnes TSX's in a 30 cal magnum I have with a premium barrel. Never noticed a difference. I've also switched back and forth in that rifle between solids and jacketed and never noticed any difference.

 

[Eyerelief]

I shoot Barnes solid copper in all of my hunting rifles. After a fanatical barrel break in, (shoot once soak and clean to spotless patch for 25 rounds) I see minimal copper fouling. My latest 300 wsm has a Kreiger barrel and now it gets cleaned very infrequently

 

[Fast14riot]

I've shot plenty of cavity back monolithic bullets between strings of jacketed bullets, but there are different alloys from different brands, too.

 

[tobnpr]

Rifle I built for my son- McGowen barrel on an M700 action.
He was shooting Hornday 180 GMX.

Looked unlike anything I'd seen when I scoped it.
No idea what the white fuzzy shit is (looks like shredded patch- but it's not. Scoped before any cleaning was done- doesn't look like copper, but can't tell you how many dark blue patches I went through with Wipe-Out.

 

[BondJamesBond]

^^^^^^^^^^ from severe curiosity I wished some of the brain trust on this forum could help explain what that might be in your barrel, reminds me...gotta get me a bore scope

 

[wedgy]

As stated there are different alloys and most are made very hard for electrical purposes. Barnes and Badlands are very hard while Cutting Edge and Hammer Bullets are a softer alloy. Nobody in the US would make the alloy the Hammer wanted so they went to a foreign factory for their copper bar(lathe turned bullets). I prefer the softer alloys as it doesn't pressure up as fast as the hard stuff and has a lower FPS expansion for hunting.
Years ago I did a solvent test on Barnes TTSX bullets soaking them 24 hrs then weighing them to see how much weight they lost. The Barnes solvent worked best on the Barnes bullet.
The picture is a Badlands 275 grain that hit and elk at 882 yards, impact velocity ~2,100 FPS, hit broadside just in front of the high shoulder(crazy mountain wind was an updraft across the canyon but was 3 to 9 o'clock where we shot from) the travelled 12 inches to the backstrap. It did not break the neck. This is part of the reason I prefer softer copper bullets.

 

[BondJamesBond]

that's some kind of shot! I used to reload for a 25-06 that I dreamed of knocking down a pronghorn with at maybe 5-6 maybe 700 yds....that was 1985...don't remember if they had solids back then.
I wouldn't take the shot if I didn't think it would drop right there or close by
what caliber if you don't mind ....338 or something in that area?